Raid on the Capital – Chapter 12

Everybody, please check the FAQ first before asking me questions.
If it’s not on there, please feel free and ask. I only get annoyed at questions when the same one has been asked 10+ times, and by then I’ll have updated the FAQ.Thank you for your consideration, guys!

Usually I take the time to research stuff and leaves notes and whatnot, but I still don’t have any clue about Mahjong, so you’ll have to work that shit out yourselves, lol. I actually translated all this stuff with the help of my friends Yuushin(雄心), Bicky (kookiedreamer), and Steel.

But here’s a tsubamegaeshi video at least:

Chapter 12 – Jessica and the Conclusion to the Final Game

According to Tilea-san, ‘Tsubamegaeshi’ is a cheating technique in ‘Marge’Ong’. It wasn’t a combat technique.

Tilea-san, if you want to win in games so badly that you’re cheating, I think you might be an addict.

But according to Tilea-san, as long as you succeed in using it, you can dominate the flow of the game.

Tsubaegaeshi――to prepare a winning hand within your ‘wall’, and then looking for a chance to swap your ‘hand’ with your ‘wall’.

If you succeed, it is possible to continue getting ‘yakuman’, and even turn your situation around.

From what I hear, it sounds high risk, but at the same time promises high return. I don’t think it would be impossible for Tilea-san.

But still, to even know a cheating technique like this… Even if she isn’t intelligent, her knowledge of this game is the real thing.

“Tilea-san, do you think you can do it?”

“Yeah, I definitely will! And you know, there’s actually something I wanted to ask of you, Jessica-chan…”

“Yes, what is it?”

“While I’m using the Tsubamegaeshi, please distract the demons.”

“It certainly sounds like a flashy technique. I guess they would notice without a distraction.”

“That’s right. So can I ask this of you?”

“I understand. But what should I do?”

“Let’s see~ For example, couldn’t you use your charms as a woman to distract them?”

“Eh-!? T-, That kind of seduction is impossible for me. And they’re demons, you know.”

“No, no, demons are still men. It’ll definitely work, I think.”

“N-, No way… That’s just impossible…”

“It’s fine, I said. This is also for the sake of defeating the demons, okay?”

“B-But… It-, It really is impossible for me!”

“I BELIEVE IN YOU JESSICA-CHAN!”

“Uuu, if you say that much, then why don’t you do it, Tilea-san!”

“That’s impossible. I’ll need to concentrate on the Tsubamegaeshi, and more importantly, they wouldn’t have any interest in me.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Yeah. That’s how it is. Those ‘Wisdom Unit’ guys all act like elites, so I bet they’re actually into lolis. It’s pretty much a given that elites are lolicons.”

“Lo-, lo… li?”

“Oh, lolicon, you see. It basically refers to the bunch that are into tiny girls with modest chests like yours, Jessica-chan.”

W-, What the heck is with this person. I-, Is she picking a fight or something?

“Muu, Tilea-san, even if I look like this I’ve grown since last year, okay!?”

“No, no, you’re definitely still a splendid loli, Jessica-chan. That loli face and your loli voice, and on top of that there’s your loli figure. You’re basically irresistable to those types.”

“…”

“And that’s how it is, so it’s impossible for me. I mean, look, my chest is huge, and I’ve got a great figure, so I’m totally outside their strike zones, right? Compared to me, you’re definitely the better choice.”

W-, What do I do?

I’m starting to want to kill her for real.

……
…………
………………

N-, No. I can’t. I can’t, I can’t. I have to control my anger. Tilea-san doesn’t mean anything bad by this. She’s like the personification of airheaded. She definitely never thinks anything, and just speaks whatever’s on her mind.

Also, the victims in town are increasing by the second right now. We don’t have the leisure to waste time here. We have to end this farce once and for all!

I very unwillingly consented to Tilea-san’s plan, and sat at the table where the demons were waiting. The game started again. With my hands shaking from nervousness, I piled up the ‘hai(tiles)’ while Tilea-san was building a winning ‘hand’ inside her ‘wall’.

Looking at her out of the corner of my eye…

Ooh, what nimble movements. She was stacking ‘hai(tiles)’ in the blink of an eye.

A few minutes later…

Tilea-san looked my way. Apparently she was done preparing.

C-, Can’t be helped. Abandon your pride, Jessica! In order to defeat the demons! In order to save the people!

After taking a deep breath, my eyes shot towards the demons.

And then…

“W-, Wow, my body is getting so hot～♪”

I brought attention to my chest as I fanned my shirt, twisting my body to draw their attention.

“Quite right, girly. This ‘Marge’Ong’ game is truly a strategic game. My heart is burning with excitement!”

“Just as you say, Horus-sama. Because of an idiot at the table, things are a little spoilt, but even so, this has still been an interesting game.”

“…”

“What’s the matter, girly? Did you not speak because you felt the same way?”

“Y-, Yes.”

Aahh… I think something important just broke inside me. I softly did my shirt back up, and fixed my collar.

I looked at Tilea-san with my teary eyes. Tilea-san’s mouth was curved into a smirk. Apparently she succeeded.

A-, Amazing. She did it in that little instant? To slip past the eyes of the demons, just what kind of super speed had she moved at? While I was feeling shocked at her fast work,

“The die says 4.”

“Then I guess I suppose it is me.”

“”AHH!?””

The two of us raised our voices in synchrony.

T-, That’s right. This cheat depends on the dice roll. The ‘hai(tiles)’ will be coming from Vice General Gilgant’s ‘wall’, so there was no meaning to the ‘Tsubamegaeshi’.

I whispered to Tilea-san.

“Tilea-san, can’t you do something about the die?”

“T-, That… it’s i-impossible even f-for me…”

She shook her head side to side.

So in the end, the game continued normally without ‘Tsubamegaeshi’ getting its chance to shine…

“‘Ron’!”

“G-, GYABON!”

The ‘hanchan’ just finished. Tilea-san’s second ‘Bust’ was determined. Before the ‘shaaba(West Round)’ began, I had another strategy meeting with Tilea-san.

“Tilea-san, the game is impossible to win already. Let’s do battle instead!”

“…I-, I can still-, I can still do it. Jessica-chan, I haven’t lost yet. This is where it begins. This is where my turnaround begins!”

Her eyes were bloodshot. Typical of a losing gambler.

“Tilea-san, it’s a shame, but we should admit defeat! The enemy is a cut above us. We have to think about cutting our losses!”

To be honest, it isn’t just one cut, but over ten cuts, but even I’m starting to feel bad for her. It’s been a crushing defeat for her every round till now, so I was careful to be a little gentler in my words.

“Y-, YOU’RE WRONGG! Jessica-chan, t-this is… Umm, yeah! I just haven’t got my sense for the game back yet. That’s all it is, okay!”

“Tilea-san…”

Yep. She’s grown stubborn. She’s got quite a stubborn part to her, after all. Can’t be helped. I don’t think it’s going to help to let the game continue, but I’ll just let her do what she wants.

“Hahhh~ I understand.”

“Jessica-chan, this time I’ll really teach them a lesson, okay!”

“Ah-, Tilea-san, just one bit of advice. Please stop talking to yourself.”

“Talking to myself?”

“So you really didn’t notice.”

“What do you…?”

“Tilea-san, whenever you’re about to reach ‘tenpai’, you get really excited, and start screaming weirdly to yourself.”

“Yes. Also, the worst is when you get a ‘haku(White Dragon)’ in your ‘hand’. Each and every time, you say “Hmph. There it is. A slip.” and I just don’t know what to do with you anymore…”

“Haha… I just kinda…”

“It’s because of that that the demons all know your information, Tilea-san.”

“Y-, Yeah.”

“There are lots of other things that you’re doing wrong, but I don’t think you’d remember if I only told you once, so at least please stop with the talking to yourself!”

“Y-, Yes.”

Well, I’ve warned her about what I can. As for how effective it’ll be… Aahh, I’m so uneasy.

But the struggle ended fruitlessly.

In the end, it was Horus’ overwhelming victory. Second place was Gilgant. Third place was me. Along the way, I realised that fighting with the demons was reckless, so I instead changed my target to Tilea-san. While somehow avoiding direct hits, I snatched points from Tilea-san, and managed to get myself into the positives. Unlike Tilea-san, I’ll immediately die if my mana gets taken, so I steeled my heart and did that.

I’m sorry, Tilea-san. I-, It’s not because you called me a ‘loli’ or anything, okay?

And then far, far, faaaar at the bottom was Tilea-san, and as expected, she was below minus 120,000 points. Because along the way, she began being targetted by me as well. Four games with a ‘Bust’, and on top of that, a ‘Yakitori’ penalty.

“☆∋★◆……GYOPOON”

Tilea-san collapsed onto the table. Aahh, I think I can see her soul escaping from her mouth. It must have been a shock to her.

“But still, Horus-sama, in the end it seems this one was simply a huge idiot.”

“Indeed. It looks like she won the Element Predict not through strategy, but simply miraculous luck.”

“Honestly, when I consider that our subordinates were killed by such a massive idiot…! Simply draining her of mana is much too lenient. We should execute her in a much crueller way, Horus-sama.”

“You certainly have a point, Gilgant. But the rules are the rules. If we break those rules, it will affect the pride of our unit. And moreover, this girl introduced us to as fun a game as ‘Marge’Ong’. In light of that achievement, shall we not spare her the worst punishment?”

“Umu. Well then, time to have this massive idiot take responsibility for losing.”

“Quite so. Hey, massive idiot. No, since she makes weird sounds and comes up with ridiculous strategies, I suppose we should be calling her a buffoon.”

“True. This girl is a buffoon. Well then, Gilgant. Attach the mana absorption tool to this buffoon.”

“Sir!”

Gilgant did as Horus ordered, grabbing Tilea-san by the head.

“Come now, buffoon! Raise your face! The tool does not hurt so much. We are allowing you to die comfortably, so be thankful to Horus-sama!”

“…”

“Oi, do you not hear me! Buffoon!”

“I-, I’ve been listening, BASTAAAAAAAAARDS!”

She suddenly raised her head as she produced a kukanomi from her pocket, smashing it into the demons.

“W-, What are――G- GUHAH-!”

“S-, She plans on――GUEGH-!”

“Hahh, hahh… LISTEN UP, GODDAMMIT! MAHJONG IS A GAME OF LUCKK! I-, IT’S NOT BECAUSE I’M DUMB OR ANYTHING, OKAYYY!? A-, And calling me buffoon and stuff… You know, I used to be praised in the neighbourhood as “Gosh, Sera-san’s daughter is such a bright child” you know! DO YOU GET ITTTT!?”

Tilea-san roared. She was understandably mad.

But it’s hardly their fault…

Well, to begin with, I wanted her to just beat them up without a game, so this is fine.

Aahh aaahh, even though Horus and the others are already dead, Tilea-san is shaking them by the collars. It’s like she’s not even paying attention. Tilea-san continued to roar. I suppose I’d better stop her now.

“Hahhh, hahhh, a-, alright! You lot, the next game is poker! This time for sure, I’ll――”

“Tilea-san.”

“Aah, Jessica-chan. Just wait a moment. This time for sure――”

“Tilea-san! They’re already dead.”

“EH-!?”

At my words, Tilea-san began to stare at the corpses of the demons. The kukanomi she had thrown unconsciously had hit all of them dead in the face. They took her amazing throws at close range, after all. Looks like these guys couldn’t handle it either.

“J-, Just as planned… Y-, You know, Jessica-chan, this was all one big plan.”

“I see…”

“Y-, Yeah, I made them think I was really into the game, so that when they let their guards down, I could really nail them, you know!?”

“I see…”

“J-, Jessica-chan, please don’t look at me with such distant eyes.””

“Anyway, Tilea-san, let’s get out of here for now.”

“Y-, Yeah. I’d better hurry to the shelter where Timu is waiting. If I recall, this was east, right?”

Sorry, Tilea-san. The location hasn’t actually changed at all. But I’m sure of it now. Without Tilea-san, we can’t defeat the demons. For now, we’ve defeated one of their four generals. I need Tilea-san to defeat the others.

I searched for mana in all directions.

Once I find large spots of mana, I’ll lead Tilea-san there. I feel bad about this, but I hope she’ll accompany me for just a little longer.

Eventually, I found something.

Huh? Why? W-Why does a mana like this exist?

“Hmph. There it is. A slip.”A modification of Akagi’s catchphrase. Or I suppose, the exact catchphrase of ‘Akagin’.

When Saki was airing I tried to learn mahjong. It’s a difficult game to learn. I forgot most of it now, heh. The general point is that the unbelievable wins they pull off in anime/manga are in reality extremely unlikely! But that’s why we watch, otherwise it would be boring…

I was actually kinda hoping they would hook her up to the mana draining machine. I wanted to see what would happen. Would it burst into smoke, flames, explode, would they be dumbstruck at her seemingly bottomless mana?

Is there anyone else who start to think Tilea is so similar to Seo from Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun ?? Like seriously, their obliviousness are strikingly similar… not that I am complaining cuz they are absolutely hilarious as they are a pain in the ass characters…

Translator #2

When not swimming with polar bears or sleeping in an igloo, likes to stare at incomprehensible moon runes believing them to be messages from the ancestors. Until the caribou meat runs out. Was promoted to Deputy? Arbiter by a wandering Sheeprabbit on a hunt one day and brought to a place named after some person called Chan, Onii.

Translator #3

Translator #4

Hey everyone, I'm Kou-san and I translate stuff.
I hopped on board because my social life was dying and I needed something to keep me from descending into darker chuuni pits. Now, back to learning how to run on water...

Translator #8

Hello, Kudarajin de~su! I'm just a student passing by, translating stuff! Started this since there was a series I really liked that I wanted to share with everyone. I'm trying to share the joy I feel when I read web novels with more people around the world! Now that my self-introduction is over, back to my glorious plan to turn everyone in the world into bookworms...

Translator #9

Graphical Editor #1

Graphical Editor #2

It was a dark and stormy night...the little slug, abandoned by all of it's friends, moved onwards. It undertook a hard and unwelcome journey. The ground was slippery cobblestone, all sunny-gleam and glass-sharp marble gluing the jagged edges together to resemble something beautiful. Walking upon the path would have hurt the slug, considering all the jagged pebbles knocked aside to and fro that it had to crawl over, if not for the water that fell from the sky and aided the slug's way to a place of suitable shells. And on the slug continued on this path, a little nervous but a lot determined, until two long shadows coalesced and stood in its way. "Slug! It's a slimy slug!" one crowed mockingly, laughing cruelly along with other shadows in a discordant symphony as they loomed over the slug, dark and threatening. "I'm not a slug!" it said in response, even as it flinched back. "I am a snail, like the rest of the snails. I just have no shell." The shadows did not seem to hear, and they surrounded the slug, holding sticks and tossing it around. "Stop!" the slug cried, but they did not stop. The rain spilled over the slug, until it didn't, and the slug lay helpless on the side of the streets, unmoving. There were many voices, screeching their victory as they walked into the distance, and the slug was bitterly reminded of the insults its siblings had told it. It did not resist as it was kicked harshly by a passing object and thrown into the air, landing on its soft underside so quickly it faded into unconsciousness, prone and helpless to any that wanted to eat it. It sadly thought that, perhaps, its siblings had been right. However, the slug did not die. It came to, after a long, long time, to see a large, patterned rock. "...Hello?" the slug whispered mutely, voice weak and barely audible, not expecting an answer. But surprisingly, the rock moved, revealing a wisened head that craned over to look at the slug. "Hello," it greeted calmly, "What are you? I have not seen any like you before." The slug took a long moment to comprehend its words, and even then, it felt floored. Someone who had not heard of slugs at all? "I...am a snail, who has no shell, seeking a place of suitable shells that will fit me, like the shells in the place of suitable shells near my home that fit my kin." "Is that so?" the other asked. "I cannot understand, for this shell of mine has been mine ever since my birth. I can, however, understand the need for a shell to watch your back and hide you away from the world, if that is why you wish for a shell." "It is," the slug replied. "It must be a joy to you, to have a shell crafted for you for your lifetime." "But I cannot choose another," the other answered, "While you can." It was a long, quiet moment of contemplation before the other spoke again. "Do you think this shell of mine is good?" The slug was startled, but it answered willingly enough. "Yes." "Do you think this shell of mine is strong?" "Yes," the slug answered, this time a lot more slowly, bemused. The other gave a tiny, weak smile. "Do you think this shell of mine is suitable?" The slug did not hesitate. "Yes," it said, and it could not have said anything more profound. "What are you?" the slug finally queried. "I am a turtle." And the turtle smiled wider, kindly. It may have been just a feeling. It may have been just a thought. But the turtle also said these very words: "You are a snail with a shell." And even though the turtle's shell was all lines and edges and angles, and the shells of the snail's brethren were all curls and swirls wrapping itself into rings of promise, the slug was a snail with a shell, and that was all that mattered.